Colette is having a field day with his 'Death of the Alliance' story, kudos to him, I can't exactly mess with his story, but It's quarter to 4 on a Monday morning, I've spent the last few hours taking everything in, and considering by his own admission It's only USA and Me left, I must at least let him no this isn't over, not by a long shot. I can't help but draw parallel between the AN*US-TA conflict and the Allies and the Axis, A few days ago I invoked an old football chant used to great effect to piss off Germans. My dad always said that we always lose when it is chanted, the little bit of text above my username tells the story.

Jane Bolet stood before an audience of thousands, on an elevated platform, bare before a sea of cold motionless eyes. out of the huge transparent dome that covered the stations central hub, she could see flashes as ships, more and more exited light speed, they swarmed around the station, blotting out stars, 3 Exodus-Dreadnoughts sat near motionless within the fleet, they drew her interest the most, they reminded her of Orca's. Killer Whales. Probably the best description. Her thoughts and eyes wandered from star too star for a moment, the she swallowed. Hard.

A mid ranking officer in the militant intelligent service, Jane was about to do the opposite of her training, she would be noticed, and heard.

"At 14:17 today, my ship the stealth destroyer 'Lady Godiva', witnessed an attack on AN headquarters, planet New-York. This attack was started by a large Third Alliance fleet entering the planetary system by what we believe was an artificial singularity." As of this moment most of the defence fleet stationed there has been wiped out, and there flagship the Spirit of Ragnablok is in a critical state, when we exited the system, the ground defences were holding, the USA are resilient, and I have faith in there ability to weather this attack, but not for long"

Jane paused to catch her breath, and so did everyone watching her. she now noticed camera drones floating above the crowd, everyone in the station must be watching her. Everyone in the empire more likely. But that was a bad thought.

"I have spoken directly to the 2nd Space Lord himself, he has asked me to personally deliver this information to you in no uncertain terms. At this moment resources are being diverted to this base, bringing the ships at this facility to 200 support ships, 100 line ship and 5 Super Dreadnoughts, we also have 150 AN ships moving into position and 300 USA ships, as well we hope to secure another 100 ships through other means. Bringing a relief fleet total too 850 vessels. I do not speak lightly when I say this force will barely dent the enemies, with time we could amass a force to mount a full retake the planet, but on that time scale our efforts would be vain. the goal of this fleet is to rescue troops and resources from the planet."

"This isn't the time for foolish heroics, but we estimate thousands of troops will still be in some state on the planet by the time this fleet arrives, as well we need to insure the destruction of sensitive data. The fleet will depart from this facility in 2 hours time, I suggest you all prepare for what is to come."

As abruptly as her speech started, it finished, Jane stood down from the platform, and made her way back to her ship. Along the cold long corridors she could hear comm chatter from the various rooms, she passed engineering on the way to the north docking port, they were using the large open workshop spaces to prepare medical packs.

Jane also dwelt on ideals, she often wondered why this conflict erupted, couldn't everyone just get along in gratuitous drinking and violence? without resorting too such... oh. SO why. Jane had been present about two months ago at a meeting between the highest ranking officials probably ever gathered by the AN, being in her line of service, you find yourself in places normally where your rank wouldn't be welcome. In the meeting one of the Space Lords gave a passionate speech about the Ideals of the AN vs the ideals of the TA, admittedly she was too drunk to remember all of it, it seemed based around the idea of a 'Moral Victory'. "We'll come second having come first playing the game", or something like that, the words honour and dignity were thrown around, to be honest his words weren't poetic or moving, it was his passion for them that was, he sounded like he really meant every word, that he'd be defiant 'til the end.

The docking port had been before Jane for a whole 5 minutes until one of the crew opened it and asked if she was ok. Jane didn't answer, she just took the step through the breach. Elsewhere around the station figures thought of the same things, the fight for the very spirit of the game.

The fleet would set off, to the maw of the monster that lay waiting, perhaps there plan will work, perhaps not, they may not even make it too planet New-York, after all, the Third Alliance would be aware of there counter-strike.

It is now quarter to 5 on a Monday morning, and I've yet to check spelling. When I chose the name [i]Spirit of Ragnablok[i] for my 'gift' to the AN I had two things in my mind, firstly this wasn't a gift to some imaginary organization but a gift to the very name I choose, the Spirit of Ragnablok is the very same Spirit of Brikwars, this idea of comradeship between two enemies, the outcome doesn't really matter just the game itself, every time I play this game that has had a large impact on my life to say a little, I've always finished smiling no matter how badly I lost, probably because I'm British and the trope is that we'll come second in the best way possible. Because when 3 years ago, I first looked through the pages of that well inked tome, I knew I'd found a game that emphasises that more than anything. Secondly it sounded cool. I must once again say kudos to Colette for this, he actually had me thinking we were on the same side for quite a bit. Lastly A word to the Third Alliance, If any of you have read this far, this is the end of the AN, it's died on a cold slab, not In glorious battle as was hoped. Yet make no mistake, Ideas and Spirits are bulletproof.